Learning the lay of the land

Ever the journalist, I have been picking up bits and pieces about Cameroon. Today I came across a site about Kamtok, a pidgin English or creole language spoken in Cameroon. I love how languages can merge, evolve and stretch until only the barest resemblance to the original language remains. Check it out here.

The site also gives the briefest overview of the country:

Cameroon has quite a small population (c. 15.5 million) for its size (475,440 square kilometres), but almost half of its people are under 14, so the population is likely to rise by between 2.5% and 3% per annum.

Cameroon has large stretches of fertile land, producing good quality cocoa, coffee, tea and bananas. It also has substantial deposits of oil and bauxite.

The country shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and it has a 400 kilometre coastline on the Bight of Biafra. Because of its position at the "hinge of Africa" and because of its geographical and ethnic diversity, Cameroon has often been referred to as "Africa in miniature".

No one is certain exactly how many languages are spoken in Cameroon but government publications suggest 200, which can be subdivided into perhaps 25 major groups. The official languages are French and English with Arabic also having high prestige.

Education is prized and at least 60% of the population is literate. The percentage is much higher in urban areas and lower among older rural women. All education is through the medium of either English or French and all young people are expected to be bilingual in the countries official languages. Approximately 50% of the population continues to follow their animist traditional religions, while 33% are Christian and 17% Muslim.